Ironing cord carry arm



May 20, 1941. E. s. HALSEY fRONING CORD CARRY ARM Filed July 50, 1938 Patented May 20, 1941 UNITED STATES PATIENT OFFICE IRONING CORiD GARRY ARM Edward S. Halsey, Arlington, Va.

Application July 30, 1938, .Serial No. 222,263

' while carrying it by frictionless suspension from 4 Claims.

The invention relates to improvements in ironing board carry arms and is in the nature of a vertically disposed, bottom hinged, spring retracted, A-shaped wire sweep arm, having a mounting base attachable to the end of any common ironing board, said base providing a back stop for the retractive movement of said arm; said arm being equipped through a swivel eye at its apex with a pendant cord-enga ng cradle, preferably formed of a short looped wire.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide an efiicient, silent, low-cost, long-sweep mechanism which will exert'a very slight and nearly uniform retractive drag on the cord in all positions of its sweep arm; which will hold the cord slack well elevated when the sweep arm is in normal position, and which will not impart sharp bends to'or rub the cord. A further objectis to provide a mechanism of the character stated which may be readily attached to an ironing board and cord, and which does not have to be detached from the board or. cord when the board is folded up into a wall cabinet, the arm automatically folding against the board as the latter is folded into the cabinet.

A further object is to provide a spring-clamped base which may optionally be attached to the center of the right hand end of the board, when there is no interfering cross-cleat or, in case of such interfering cleat, the spring clamp may be readjusted on its base at ninety degrees from said former position so as to be slipped over the back edge of the board as close to the right hand end as said :cle-at will permit of.

Minor objects will be made apparent by the following detailed description:

The invention resides in the construction, com: bination, specific nature and application of materials and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in Which- Fig.1 is a side elevation of a wall cabinet type ironing board, and electric iron with connecting cord shown with my carry arm applied thereto in working position;

Fig. 2 is an elevation of my device in retracted position as attached to the right hand end of board (indicated by dotted lines) as it would appear viewed from the left-hand end of said board;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of same;

Fig. 4' is a. plan view of Fig. 3, with the upper projecting parts cutaway;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective of the pendant wire cradle for securing the cord against creeping the eye-loop at the apex of the carrying arm;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the base frame only with clamping spring ll. alternatively applied thereto at a ninety degree angle from that shown by Figs. 1 to 4 to adapt it for clamping on to the back side or edge of the board as is shown in elevation by Fig. 7, and

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken on the plane indicated by line 1-4 of Figure 6.

Referring to details, the rectangular base frame I is preferably made of so-called flat wire, tinned and of about three-eighths inches in breadth formed up by bending dies; the two end extremi ties 2 and 2 thereof are bent inwardly and upwardly at a slight angle that gives them a backward pitch over the broad, horizontal base section in suitable position to act as a backstop limit to the retractive movement of the overswinging A-shaped :carrier arm 4 which has, fixed thereto the spot-welded cross-yoke 5 which comes to rest against said up-bent extremities, the latter preferably being tipped by rubber collars 2a and 2a: which eliminate noise when said crossyoke and swinging arm is allowed to snap back against said back stop extremities.

Said A-shaped arm is preferably formed of No. 12, tinned spring furniture wire with a central eye 6 at its apex and its two end extremities 4b and 4b bent sharply inward to constitute the pivots upon which it swings, said pivot ends pass inwardly through holes punched through said up-bent base extremities about one inch above the bottom edge of said base. Said two pivot extremities of this wire are centrally driven into the ends of a round wooden piece 3 between said uprights, spacing them apart.

The helical retracting spring 5a is of such length that with one of its ends hooked to said cross-yoke through hole 5a and its other end centrally attached to. the back of the base frame through hole 50, said spring is under little or no tension when the arm 4 is in normal position. In this position, the arm 4 inclines upwardly and rearwardly. When the arm 4 is in this position, in which position it is supported by the stops 2 and the cross-yoke 5, the spring 511 inclines-downwardly and rearwardly from its point of connection with the arm. After the arm 4 passes the vertical during its forward movement by the iron, the weight of the arm and the weight of the cord C are impressed upon the spring 5a. Due thereto, and as the spring moves bodily downward during this movement of the arm, the tension developed in the spring during the movement of the arm from normal to vertical position does not noticeably increase as the arm continues to move forwardly under the pull exerted thereon due to the movement of the iron.

A free-swinging pendant cradle of bent wire for carrying and adjustably retaining the ironing cord which rides between the legs of the arm is constituted by the reversibly bent end loops l0 and I0 and their central loop 9 linked into the eye-loop 6 formed at the apex of the carry arm.

I have found in practice that most satisfactory results are had with a stretch of about twentyseven inches of freely suspended cord between said cord-retension cradle and the iron.

Attention is directed to the manner in which the spring wire board-clamp II is fixed to the base frame I for clamping the end of the board as shown by Figs. 1 to 4 in which case the two outwardly bent extremities l6 and [6 of said wire clamp are socketed in corresponding holes I 1 and Il punched out through the two upright frame extremities 2 and 2 near their base in which they are retained by outward spring tension.

On the other hand, when it is desired to adapt said spring wire clamp to said base so as to clamp onto the back edge of the ironing board, said spring clamp is moved around ninety degrees from the above described position on said base and its two extremities l6 and 16 are inserted in the two socket holes l8 and I8 provided adjacent to the front side of frame I closest to the operator.

By making the widely swinging overhead arm of ultra light construction, its shifting weight relative to its under pivoting permits of the use of a feeble retracting spring and facilitates the maintenance of a light and relatively uniform drag on the ironing cord.

While I prefer the light, durable and economical spring wire construction with broadly separated provided at its upper end with a cord-engaging member, means adapted to support the arm in normal position, the arm,- when in said position, extending upwardly and rearwardly at a slight angle, the arm being moved forwardly from said position by the cord during the movement of the iron away from the base, and a spring adapted to return the arm to said position during the movement of the arm in the direction of the base, the spring being attached to the arm and base and inclining downwardly and rearwardly from its point of connection with the arm, and the spring being substantially free of tension while the arm is in normal position and moving bodily downward during the forward movement of the arm.

2. An ironing-cord holder according to claim 1, wherein the base is of U-form in plan, wherein the means for supporting the arm in normal position comprises extensions on the base and a cross yoke on the arm, and wherein the spring is secured to the base and to the cross yoke.

3. An ironing-cord holder according to claim 1 wherein the base is of U-form in plan, wherein the means for supporting the arm in normal position comprises stops extending upwardly and rearwardly from the front side of the base and a cross yoke on the arm, wherein the spring is connected with the cross yoke and base, and wherein the base is secured in place by a spring clamp having portions overlying the base and secured to the base.

4. In an ironing cord holder of the class wherein the cord is connected between its ends to the upper end of a swinging arm of substantially inverted V-form and wherein the arm is yieldingly held in a substantially upright position, the combination with said arm of an elongated wire cradle for suspending said cord from the upper end of said arm, said cradle being pivoted between its ends to the upper end of said arm, and said cradle being normally horizontally disposed and adapted to swing between the sides of said arm.

EDWARD S. HALSEY. 

